Rainbow chance
by ochazuke
Summary: In which the torrential rain season offers two young coordinators an opportunity to reach each other. Anime-universe, Contestshipping, DAML, Shuuharu, MayxDrew.
1. Chapter 1

**Rainbow chance**

* * *

 _In which the torrential rain season offers two young coordinators an opportunity to reach each other._

* * *

 **Day 1**

Sunny and clear mornings, high level of humidity in the air and warm temperatures: that's how the typical weather around most areas of the subtropical lands of Hoenn is, all year long. There is a particularly abundance of water - sea routes are important paths to travel across the continent, most trainers exploring the region rather carry at least one water pokemon for surfing.

Combining those two main traits, it is not a big surprise that Alola's number one competitor in coastal tourism and resort market are the beautiful islands and shores of Hoenn.

Meanwhile, in the mythical lands of Johto, local people may easily describe the beginning of summer days with the following situation: the weather getting fiercely and increasingly hot, while young pokemon trainers eagerly empty the market shop aisles of cold beverages, cooling products and ice cream servings.

Still, around the region of millennial history, old traditions and myths, summer has different and extra unique flavors. Besides the large influx of tourists to Olivine and Cianwood areas, the summertime in Johto is remarkable for the blooming season of rich hydrangeas, the migration of bird pokemon from Sinnoh, traditional local festivals with street food and firework shows… and, of course, the Johto Grand Festival season.

For the coordinator native from LaRousse City, that meant it was the time to work even harder and, also, temporarily retire his jacket and long-sleeved shirt - after all, May was a warm month and June would become even more humid and hotter, right?

What Drew couldn't have imagined was that summer in those lands had one more striking quirk…

"...Beautiful afternoon, isn't it?"

A loud cheerful voice broke the song rhythm of the falling rain. With a teasing grin plastered on her face, May twirled her huge red umbrella with Magikarp scale patterns over her head, splashing water all around her thick yellow boots.

The skies were dark and eerie; the torrential storm was washing away the colorful scenario, soaking all the plants and trees, making groups of pokemon cover themselves inside the caves and hide under hidden paths.

Watching her rival stuck under the roof of a closed convenience store was, honestly speaking, _wickedly fun_ \- after all, May was usually the one who would get in trouble in front of Drew, not the other way.

Previously on that week, Drew had mocked May's excessive packing at their last Pokemon Center stop - the unstoppable Princess of Hoenn had gone into a shopping spree and bought a new raincoat, a pair of long waterproof boots and a large _Magikarp Jump_ umbrella. She insisted carrying those new items in her bag, even though the skies were still as blue as a flock of baby Swablu.

Hiding his head pathetically under his soaked jacket, the prodigy coordinator watched his properly-equipped rival enjoy herself with a merry dance, not worried at all with the bothersome weather. She seemed to be very excited and radiant, apparently ready to enjoy the harsh rainy season of Johto as much as she would if standing in a sunny resort beach in their homeland.

"Yes," Drew shouted back in a plain tone, trying to show how the attempts to phase him were not working at all, "I got caught by the rain, I didn't imagine it would get much worse so quickly."

"It's the plum rain season…" May giggled in a playful and sweet manner, then shared with her rival a tiny yet amicable smile. "...Johto's small blessings, you know?"

" _What_?" Unable to hear his rival, the boy from Larousse City furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Season what?"

"Plum. _Plum rain_." The girl repeated her answer, pronouncing each word in an exaggerated fashion, making the tip of her hair sway back and forth. She walked closer to help him listen to her words. " _Plum. Rain. Season_!"

"Oh." Trying to not sound too curious, Drew tried to find out more about it by tossing a bait on the topic and waiting for the catch. "I see. I wonder why everything you like is _always_ food-related..."

" _Tsuyu_. That's the name we call it here in the local dialect, I didn't make up that." The cheerful girl certainly didn't mind pulling the bait. She shrugged in a brisk movement, making raindrops bounce off her shoulders. "Blame the ancient legends for choosing that name. Maybe the plums from Johton ripen in this season, dunno, I should ask Mom later."

Drew crooked a doubtful eyebrow at his rival, who did react to the provocation with an unexpected surprised face.

"Huh? Wait, you didn't know that?" Watching the coordinator shrug as a negative answer, May tilted her head to one side, and after that, to the other. "Okay, now you do. My family is from Johto. I used to live here before I moved to Littleroot Town, then Petalburg City!"

Drew had never heard May talking about herself - of course they would often chat about pokemon, coordinating life, some old travel friends and rivals; still, her very personal life was something like an unknown world to him.

They had been traveling around the world for some time, bumping into each other around Contest and Pokemon Centers, but for some reason they ended up never talking about certain topics. Not that personal matters were a taboo, it's just that... They respected each other so much that some kind of unspoken established rules stated that crossing the line was... maybe too much.

After all, they were still only friendly rivals, not close friends.

"So... _Rain specialist_ ," the soaked teenager spoke loudly in a playful banter tone, looking at the Magikarp girl with a smug grin on his face, "tell me how long this is going to last."

Perhaps such distance was something that could be easily changed. Drew realized that rivals aside, who knows, May could be a nice friend too. He really enjoyed her company anyway.

"What? You mean... The whole rainy season or just today's rain?"

In order to avoid unnecessary shouting, she joined Drew by fitting herself in his spot under the roof, guarding him under her umbrella.

It was big enough for one, just enough for two.

"Your call." He lowered his jacket, thankful for being protected by a more reliable cover. "Give me your best weather forecast."

It was hard to not notice how fascinated the girl born Johto was with Drew's dripping and messy green hair. Her eyes were not even trying to make eye contact, staring directly at the shiny spots on his poor drenched head.

He smirked in an inconspicuous manner, enjoying her total lack of awareness of the situation.

The delayed answer took some time to come up, but then it was finally announced when she promptly looked away in embarassment.

"Ahhh... The season usually... lasts for, lemme see, _two weeks_?"

The sound of rain toned down considerably, as if helping the two teenagers to keep up with their chatting. They looked up to the sky from time to time and watched the environment become a little less duller.

On ground level, a group of Oddish came out of a tree hole nearby, relieved with the calmer weather. Few resting Metapod were no longer with their eyes closed, waking up from the short rainy nap.

The pouring rain was slowly turning into into a soothing drizzle.

"Two weeks..." Drew crossed his arms in a thoughtful pose. His mind went back to full Coordinator mode. "Then I guess we gotta prepare ourselves to Goldenrod's Contest under the rain, huh. They have an open-ceiling hall, I'll use a more suitable strategy for that."

"Maybe..." May started mindlessly playing with her raincoat's yellow strings. "I don't know, it's hard to tell when exactly it will start or stop raining, so..."

"Yeah, I'll practice my backup plan instead. Not worth abusing from sunlight during Appeal rounds..."

Possibly without a knowing intention, Drew casually flicked the tip of his hair in his usual mannerism - that left his hair bangs up in an unusual style, exposing a bit of his forehead out.

May's eyebrows went higher in attention. She wanted really badly to take a photograph of that moment.

"Well... maybe you can practice some appeals with your pokemon later at night, today." She made it sure to not act weirdly now, focusing her gaze again on the strings instead of getting lost in the alluring damp hair strands. "The rain might stop anytime, you know.."

"I'm not going to lie, this is a bit annoying." Drew rolled his eyes out. He finally noticed how his hair was looking different, tapping and fixing it back to the regular shape. "Anyway, at least Masquerain will love getting out of its pokeball... "

"Hahaha, see, daily forecasts are chaotic in summer. The rain comes and goes away as it pleases... Take it as a challenge!" May tried to offer some consolation to her coordinator partner. "Everyone's going through this, only the best will survive! I know you'll find a way and come up with something witty and gorgeous for the next Contest, Drew!"

The teen from LaRousse City grinned in satisfaction. Hearing these unconscious flattering ramblings from May was always a pleasant experience for his ego. "Only the best will survive, huh? You should be careful, don't forget your own words..."

The offended girl just huffed out loud then stuck her tongue out in a childish way. He took the insult with a low-key smirk.

Checking out the clearer sky, May walked away from her rival, raising one leg and pointing that feet to the route ahead. "We're really close to the next city! Just need to follow that road and we can have some rest inside a dry place. Wanna a ride to the next Pokemon Center?"

Drew raised one eyebrow. "You brought your bike?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant... I mean, _this_." She shook the umbrella lightly, making it look like a splashing Magikarp. "Come here, we can share it."

That was definitely a very simple and spontaneous invitation - although whatever went through Drew's mind, it made him find that quite inconvenient, since he decided to politely refuse the offer.

"It's okay, almost not raining anymore," he spoke with a more hushed and less sarcastic voice, leaving his place under the closed store's roof. "I should be fine now."

"But that rain might come back out of sudden..."

With an indignant look on her eyes, the girl fully-prepared for a flood watched her rival trying to run away. _What was his problem_? Shaking her head in disappointment, she didn't hesitate giving him a warning.

"I'm telling you..."

Ignoring the threat, Drew just waved goodbye and started walking slowly, avoiding the huge puddles of water around their feet.

"Wait, are you sure you want to risk your life?"

"I'll survive. See you at the Pokemon Center."

Offering again a place under her umbrella, this time May reinforced her offer by reaching out her rival with an open hand.

"Gee, _you are so stubborn_... C'mon, just get under the umbrella and let's go!"

Instead of refusing her last chance on spot, Drew actually pondered for a moment... After drying his hands on his shirt, he gracefully accepted the invitation with a gentle grip.

"...Since you insist."

"Yay, very good! Let's go!"

May was thrilled - Drew was back, she had just won their mini discussion! Pulling his hand in a bossy and playful attitude, she celebrated the victory with a joyful song, humming a tune in such radiant way that even Drew couldn't help but hold a tiny cordial smile on his lips...

...Although after finally realizing that they were sharing an umbrella while holding hands, in a spetacular turnabout, May just went mute and almost fell down from legs going petrified in mortification.

(...)

* * *

 **A/N:** Yeah, I really really _really_ like writing CS in Johto...

It's a multichaptered story but I guess it can be easily enjoyed as an one-shot... Dedicated to everybody who has been reading my other Contestshipping stories - it's a small gratitude fic and also an apology for the yearly slow updates!


	2. Chapter 2

**Rainbow chance**

* * *

 **Day 2 - morning**

May woke up with the natural alarm clock of fresh falling rain.

That was far from being a displeasing noise. She was staying on the building's second floor, where the droplets on the leaves of a big tree kept tapping on her window. It mixed nicely with the song of running water inside some pipe outside, making sleeping in that bedroom a very relaxing experience.

The coordinator girl closed her eyes, enjoying the moment in peace for a few minutes, then rolled her body to the side to pull her PokeNav off its charger. While checking the forecast app, a line of sad Castform Rain icons filled the timeline for the 'weather of the day' tab...

Oh well, such news were no big surprise. Summer in Johto, plum rain season.

She had planned to take the day off to relax, anyway. Staying inside the Pokemon Center - reading e-mails, listening to some relaxing music and working on new Appeal trick ideas - sounded like a good idea for a slow rainy day.

May walked in lazy steps to the bathroom, trying to start the day with a good mood and a clean face. She stopped in front of the sink, humming a happy melody, then took a side glance to the shower box corner... where she had left her wet rain gear from the previous day.

"...Oh."

That's right... Last afternoon May had finally arrived at Goldenrod's Pokemon Center, together with Drew, after a long walk in complete silence. They crossed the entire road to Goldenrod City without exchanging any words, barely crossing their timid gazes - perhaps just once or twice?...

Blame the holding hands under the umbrella.

Perhaps things would have been different if May had not almost fallen on the ground, in a super dramatical way, shocked by the level of intimacy of her careless gesture. It wouldn't be weird if her face didn't become as red as a Tamato berry, neither if she were actually able to speak normally - no knots inside her throat.

 _They held hands._

Drew's hand was so soft... slightly bigger than hers, just slightly. She could sense her own warmth heating his cold wet fingers. It was a funny sensation... It would be nice to remember if he had a hesitant or a confident grip, if their fingers were intertwining _(...oooh._ ) hers or not; but she was stupidly too busy enjoying their discussion's victory when these things had actually happened. She didn't notice any of these details at all.

"Oh... Ah... _Ah_. Ahh! Ahhhh, what I was thinking?!"

May refused to think about that moment, but that's the only thing she could - and wanted to - remember and reimagine, again and again.

* * *

It is easy to get deeply lost in thoughts while listening to the hot shower above your head, then going back to a comfortable bed with that soothing rain noise. May could spend the whole day like that, if only... hunger didn't get in her way. Losing herself in a weird and kind of romantic fantasy with her rival was a strange, _really strange_ and _addictive_ daydream; still, it's hard to beat a hungry stomach.

Or better saying, May's hungry stomach was simply _unbeatable_.

When walking down the stairs, while seeing her own reflection mixed with raindrops on the window, the coordinator felt her body growl quietly in impatience.

Boots, cape, umbrella, matching accessories... Her plum season shopping spree was just _savage_. She had not much money left for a indulging breakfast - meaning no creamy latte drinks or fluffy cake slices for her unstoppable tummy.

Goldenrod City was known as a department store paradise but... this time she would have to content herself with the simplest Pokemon Center's meal.

 _Johto's green tea cream puffs, buckwheat noodles, mouthwatering rice cakes..._

Holding her complaining belly in a frustrated way, May sighed out loud in a pitiful cry.

After reaching the cafeteria area, the coordinator could instantly spot her rival sitting in a table facing the windows, wearing headphones and writing something on a small journal. Drew...

 _Drew. Umbrella. Hands._

Two immediate thoughts came up to May's mind. First one: _ugh, please stop thinking about hands; s_ econd one: _I really mean it, stop it, because no way he won't laugh at me because of that!_

May's heart started pumping fast and her whole body stopped moving in an instinctive way, as a scared Caterpie spotting a hungry Pidgeotto on its way.

Too bad she couldn't simply silently crawl walls like the bug pokemon - if May wanted breakfast, she would have to cross that hall and order her food without being noticed. That should not be easy, but also not an impossible mission - the space wasn't that big and it was worth looking weird in front of others, as long as Drew didn't acknowledged her presence at the Pokemon Center.

Holding her breath in concentration, May started walking on the tip of her toes, working hard to be as subtle as a Surskirt waltzing on water surface.

Nurse Joy watched the unusual antics with a curious look on her face, wondering why that girl was being so cautious with her steps, trying to mix herself with the busy Chansey waitresses from the cafeteria. _What was it?_ Some kind of bet, maybe she was hiding from someone... perhaps a ninja game?

"I'd like to order one plain breakfast set," May whispered while glancing at her rival's table, carefully placing the coins - one by one, so they didn't make any noise - on the counter. "No drinks, I'll just have water... Thank you."

"Okay," Nurse Joy replied in a quieter voice, gently taking the money and watching that funny guest trainer nod in a thankful way. "Wait a moment, please."

The coordinator girl received the small brown paper bag in her hands - judging by its shape, it probably contained just one apple and a slice of butter toast. It was still warm and, since things like that could easily make loud crumpling sounds, May held her breakfast with all her inner strength and focus, in order to not activate her clumsy limbs and fail her mission.

It would take less than fifteen seconds to cross the room in regular steps - walking in May's secretive fashion, it took almost a minute to move around and not raise Drew's attention. Crossing the hall without raising any alerts from her rival, May clenched her fists in excitement, unable to stay still. She commemorated her small morning success with a low-key victory dance, shaking her arms and hips in a silly way.

Although she could have also shouted and made a scandalous noise anyway, since Drew lowered his headphones then turned his head back in curiosity, disrupting the wary (but still emotive) celebration.

* * *

"... _What are you doing_?"

 _Damn, his headphones were turned off!_

May almost let her breakfast drop on the floor. She tried to look less suspicious by walking back to the dining hall, heading to Drew's table.

Being subtle didn't matter anymore, making May's exaggerated swinging arms bounce the paper bag and its contents up and down... Nurse Joy was confused, but maybe got an idea of the situation after seeing the two teenagers talking to each other.

"Oh, Drew! I didn't know you were here, hahaha, wow, you have good ears, don't you?"

(Everything never seems to be a bad idea until getting caught in the rain - now she really needed a good excuse to justify the stupid jig...)

"Not really, but... it's hard to not notice you... moving around in a suspicious way."

"Eh... What do you mean?"

Pointing to the image of a reflected face in shock, Drew showed his rival the crime evidence.

 _Damn, he could clearly see her reflection on the window!_

"Ah...!"

Why did everything seem to be heading to the wrong way? May scratched the back of her head, sheepish guilty despair stamped on her smile.

"Morning, _Sleepy Princess_. Sleepwalking, I guess?"

To her utter relief, Drew just greeted her in his casual fashion - dash of irony, smirk and grin. No hair flick, but at least no mocking comments regarding last day's issue. No mentions of that-memory-that-shall-not-be-reminisced. 'No need to worry!', May's pride was saved, for now.

"Ha-ha. Very funny..."

The coordinator girl replied the comment with a forced sarcasm - but since she was no longer feeling distressed, that was immediately dismissed with a good-natured giggle. She looked at him with a playful smile, gently poking his arm with a harmless closed fist.

"Definitely sleepwalking."

"Meanie... Sometimes I feel like beating you up, hahaha!"

 _Was that meant to be cute or a real threat?_ Drew wondered if she was waiting him to invite her to his table - May was acting weirdly... and that usually meant that his rival was hiding something.

Not really sure of what exactly caused that good mood shift, he took the chance to do something about what was on his mind the day before - the whole 'only rivals, not yet friends' thing. Trying to not be too obvious, Drew nodded to the brown paper bag, feigning some lack of enthusiasm about the situation.

"You're going to eat this now?"

"Yeah," May answered with a reticent voice. Looking at her poor scrambled meal, she sighed out loud. "I'm starving, I could easily eat more than my Munchlax today..."

"I'm done with my work," Drew spoke with a solemn tone, trying to show off confidence. "I'm going back to my room soon, you can sit here if you _—_ "

May just took the offer without saying anything about it - before he finished his sentence, she simply put her breakfast on the table then jumped to the seat next to her rival, assuming that he wanted some company too.

The coordinator girl beamed in satisfaction.

"Thank you!"

"Huh?"

Drew blinked in surprise.

Inviting May to stay with him, without looking like a dork... took much less effort than he thought it would take.

For someone who would get easily embarrassed about anything he'd say, May for sure enjoyed being very social... "Yeah, I saw the forecast. It's been raining since early morning and it won't stop until late night, so you're also staying at the Pokemon Center, right? I'll not let you feel lonely today!"

Well, he should know it better - _of all people, his naive rival befriended Harley_...

Before Drew could attempt objecting to her previous words (... _'lonely'?!)_ , May unconsciously changed the topic with a curious chirping voice.

"Oh... Are these your Appeal notes?"

Drew kept his journal closed, but it was easy to guess what kind of contents it had just by seeing the rest of the lined up items on the table - a thick Contest guidebook, pokemart receipt tickets and Drew's PokeNav, screen opened on a tab listing a calculator and some Pokemon Move statistics.

"For Goldenrod's Contest," he replied shortly and added with a unsurprised voice, "I suppose you haven't prepared yours yet?"

May was enchanted by all that organization. Watching his rival observe every detail like a Skitty hypnotized by a castle of cardboard boxes, Drew wished he had something like a laser point to watch her go wild.

"Ohhh, you're not sharing your _se-e-ecrets_?" May pronounced the last word in a cutesy singing tone. She clasped her hands together, joking lightly with a cheeky voice, "I think you could do that, I can be your confidant! I promise I won't tell anybody!"

"Why would I do that?..."

"Because... _I'm the Princess of Hoenn_?"

Thunderbolts and lightning. _Frightening._

The weather got even worse, as if it had just heard that comment and got sicker from it. The two teenagers quickly glanced at the dark skies outside the Pokemon Center, then stared at each other for a moment, speechless.

May's serious effort to keep a straight face while replying was acknowledged - Drew refused to question her illogical answer, just raising a single eyebrow in disdain. She didn't look very pleased with the reaction, though.

"You're _so mean_... Anyway, what if I shared this with you?"

May offered her breakfast bag to Drew, who just kept staring without knowing what to say.

He had already eaten his breakfast - and just the idea of sharing May's poor meal and seeing her face suffering from doing so... was not a pretty sight. He enjoyed teasing - _and not literally torturing_ his rival.

"I'm... good, thanks."

"Are you sure you don't want my apple for your _se-e-ecrets_?" She placed the red fruit on the table, in a small space between the two of them, then pulled the toast out of the bag and started eating it, fiercely and with gusto. "Hmmmm!"

Drew patiently waited his rival enjoy her simple meal. It was only a plain butter toast, but May looked so pleased - her big blue eyes were shining and she kept sighing in happiness. Resting his head on his arms, the teenager intentionally hid a small smile on his lips. He didn't enjoy lowering his guard like that, but, if May's guilty pleasure was pleasing her own stomach, Drew's would be watching May enjoy all the little things in her life.

"I know... can't bribe you with food..."

In between bites, May tried to complete her sentence. However, because that was way too messy (and she definitely didn't want to spit food on Drew's face), she decided to first finish her toast in peace before making the next question.

"What if I told you my Appeal plan in details... Would you trade that for a small peek on yours?"

They were chatting about Contests again. However, May's intonation and cheerful expression implied she was talking not as a competitor, neither as a fellow coordinator. "Pretty please? I'm just curious, I'm not using that information against you!"

She battered her eyelashes in a very unconvincing but cute way. The last part was an important detail, because it made Drew actually hesitate.

"Uh..."

In order to distract himself from staring at that horribly adorable thing sitting by his side, Drew turned his head and, for a short time, watched the falling raindrops through the window in silence.

They were having a light talk so far. Drew was really interested in hearing May talk more about other things besides pokemon and their fierce rivalry on stage... Coming up with an idea, he conceded playing that game with her.

When he decided to face his rival again, she was still waiting him with that pleading kid look - the boy instantly knew she was expecting and forcing a positive answer from him.

"...Why don't you tell me any other secret of yours? Then I can show you this," Drew spoke with an oddly charming voice, holding his journal in front of her eyes. "It has all my recent Appeal notes and I'll let you go through as many page as you want. Fair enough?"

"Great, alright! Hmmm, let me see..."

Waving her legs back and forth with enthusiasm, May tilted her head in concentration then raised one finger up in the air. "Okay, I got one. It's a pretty good tip, I don't think many people know this one... A pokemon team hunting trick!"

Drew crossed his arms around his chest. He didn't seem to be impressed with the beginning of the story.

"See, I went to that city full Slowpokes, Azalea Town... It's so cute, have you been there before? Anyway, when I was there, I met a nice girl and her nice old man. Grandpa's name is Kurt! Mr Kurt can craft pokeballs, if you bring him Apricots _—_ "

"I'm not in a mood for that kind of information, May..."

"But..."

Drew sighed out loud. The coordinator girl wanted to insist that her secret was, in fact, really useful for Contests, until she heard the reason why she got interrupted out of the blue.

"You want to see all my Appeal routines from this journal, right? You see, it's not a small thing, it's a big secret, May. Please, try harder... Entertain me. If you want to read my notes, I want something good in trade. Tell me anything else that I'd like to hear from you."

Drew started with boredom then slowly resumed the sentence with an arrogant smug smile.

May thought he was trying to sound fancy and menacing - in her own eyes, he was being just being an annoyance, though.

"Like what, you want me to, I don't know _... praise_ you?"

The horrified girl groaned in a mix of shock and disgust - Drew seemed slightly more interested and attentive now.

"I like that idea."

"Geez, aren't you a self-centered boy..."

Drew shrugged in a dramatic way.

" _You_ were the one asking for my _se-e-ecrets._ " He pronounced the last word like that on purpose - someone obviously noticed the mocking jab, firing him a killing frown. "I'm vain, you are curious... and also full of hatred. See, we all have our vices."

"Hmpf, I'm SO not doing that." May rolled her eyes out. "I'll find another interesting thing to tell you instead..."

As expected, her rival flicked the tip of his hair in the most obnoxious fashion he could do.

"I'm not going outside today, so... You got plenty of time to come up with something good."

(...)

* * *

 **A/N:** Day 2 got a bit longer than I expected so I broke it down into two different parts. I hope you enjoy this new chapter - and please share your thoughts in a review if you like it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Rainbow chance**

* * *

 **Day 2 - noon**

"Drew, I think you might be just trying to fool me..."

May suddenly broke the silence going on around that quiet corner of the cafeteria. Her voice sounded tired, maybe even a little bit disappointed.

Drew stopped the music player on his PokeNav, watching his rival with a confused look - that was definitely not what he thought she'd tell him out of blue.

"Huh?"

That was new. Drew had never heard that one coming from May - in fact, they were familiar with those lines being used in a different context: that used to be what... HE used to tell her when shady coordinators tried to sabotage her work.

"Yup. Wanna know why?"

Drew imagined that it wouldn't take too long to wrap up the discussion from breakfast time - he assumed that his rival would simply give up, or spill out loud something random just for the sake of trying it. However, May took his provocation in a literal way - she apparently didn't want to talk until finding something interesting to share with him.

Secret Swap - the silly game that sounded like a Pokemon move was something that May would do with her traveling friends. Sitting around an outdoor fire, enjoying marshmallows under the stars, laughing together with Max, Ash and Brock about funny stories that happened in the past...

Against Drew, that relaxing intimate moment... felt like a challenge. The threatening thunders outside the Pokemon Center matched perfectly with the offended expression on May's face.

So after eating her breakfast apple, leaving and returning their table for a bathroom break, folding a Pidove-shaped paper with her receipt, opening her PokeNav and checking her inbox message, folding _more_ Pidove-shaped papers with paper bag scraps... she rested her head on her arms then pondered a lot while watching the storm outside, until finally stating her complaint.

"Well, you will deny anything I say! You can easily tell me that my secret 'a', 'b' or 'c' is not worth yours," May spoke in an annoyed voice, clearly suspicious of Drew's unknown intentions. "You know I'm too curious, so I think you're just... trying to find a free pass to laugh at me, aren't you?"

Somehow hearing such defensive reasoning made the boy wonder - was he really _that_ mean to his rival?

Mean like, Harley-level of maliciousness?

Almost like a heavenly acknowledgement of Drew's reflections, the window in front of the two of them flashed in a spooky way - matching perfectly with certain someone's scandalous evil laughing... Drew only raised an eyebrow in contempt, contemplating the coincidence; right after that came the thunderbolt, which made May jump on her seat in surprise.

He wanted to laugh. Too bad explaining the situation wouldn't be that much funny.

Being a kind of jerk, yeah, he considered himself quite like that... After all, teasing May's curiosity was partially a play on her naivety - but laughing _at_ her? Not really part of his current plans.

Drew decided to clarify the situation in a slightly friendlier way. That's how Solidad often positioned herself while discussing with him - and that usually worked fairly well, right?

"Ouch, harsh. Aren't you exaggerating a little bit..." Without hiding some sincerity in his voice, the coordinator boy asked in a half-entertained, half-hurt tone, "I mean, have I ever lied to you?"

"Well _—_ "

May opened her mouth to reply, yet something made her change her mind before saying anything to confront that question. She shut her mouth with both of her hands, as if stopping herself from saying something very stupid. Her frustrated stare slowly shifted to a dramatic and contradicted expression of regret.

"...Gosh, I sounded like a _mean_ person, didn't I?"

* * *

The irony. _Did May call herself a mean person_?

"What?"

"Yeah, you're right... Gosh, you really are." Looking at her funny angry face, it was obvious how hard that girl was struggling to digest the unexpected truth - but still, trying hard to apologize anyway. "You've never really lied to me before! Actually, you're always brutally honest, aren't you?..."

 _So cute._ Drew snickered under his breath, without the carrying usual sarcasm and condescending arrogance.

He decided to tone down his defense and concede her some room to relax. If he wanted to befriend May for real, that would be necessary, right?

"Not saying that I'm not honest with you, but..." Drew spoke each word with some difficulty - _it was kind of awkward to talk about these things, huh..._ "Ahem, I could be _more honest_. That's entirely my fault and... Fair enough, that's why I don't know you very well."

"Hm?"

The discussion just died there. May watched her table partner rest his headphones on his neck once again, then pick each of her mini-Pidove origami by their head and line them up on the top his journal. Drew was apparently distracting himself now and pretending nothing had happened - was that all he wanted to tell her?

She was confused. _Too much information at once_. "Drew?..."

Unexpected and violent thunderstorm noises hit the building in sequence, startling some of the Pokemon Center staff and other unsettled trainers. Meanwhile, Drew just looked back at his rival in peace, as if he had just seen her for the first time on that day.

"Yes?"

"C'mon, stop being too mysterious." May moved her brows in a Shroomish-shaped frown. "...I don't get what you're saying."

Drew tried to shrug it off with a dismissing hand motion - however, it didn't stop May from demanding an answer. The Princess of Hoenn did her best threatening impression, by perfectly mastering the mushroom pokemon face with a pronounced pout.

Angry Shroomish. Upset Shroomish. Resentful Shroomish.

"...You're not going to stop until you get what you want, huh?"

Pointing at the window, the upset coordinator kept the censoring semblance on her face. " _I'm not going outside today. You got plenty of time to come up with something good,_ remember?"

Drew had to admit that her comeback was good.

"I just... I just want..." He paused for an instant before completing his sentence, then shortly raised his hands, gesticulating to help expressing himself better. "We're rivals, but it would be nice to hear something that is not work-related."

The deep clueless stare was a hint that... it would need more honesty and a less vague reasoning to make that girl understand that confession.

"May, we've been bumping into each other since you started competing in Hoenn and... Your life seems to be interesting, I like when we talk about Contests, but... we could have fun doing something else too, I want to know y _—_ "

"Chansey!"

The two teenagers turned their attention to the nurse pokemon behind them. Chansey diligently discarded May's apple leftovers in a trash bag and put the lunch menu folder on their table. Before they could move or say something, it jumped to the next table to help another Chansey on duty with its cleaning job.

"Chan, Chansey!"

(Far away from them, Nurse Joy sighed with a hand on her forehead. Sometimes her pokemon co-workers were a bit oblivious...)

May couldn't help but stop feeling so defensive - her Shroomish pout was now a cute Cleffa pout, waiting intently for an answer. "You want to know what...?"

Drew's hands were still hanging up in the air.

"...Let's say instead that we don't have many chances to chat about other things." Refusing to look back, he finished the long ranting while watching a random spot on the ceiling. "Without being interrupted."

* * *

May was so used to hear her rival teasing and mercilessly correcting her mistakes... that what he had just spoken to her felt good, but also really weird. After all, Drew was assuming he was wrong - and such thing didn't happen very often.

It managed to become better - and weirder - when Drew implied that he wanted to change that. Something... was right, but felt so out of the place at the same time. What was it?

"Yeah..." She nodded timidly but with excitement, feeling the mood shift in the air. It got lighter, yet stranger - and the fluctuating weather outside had no influence on that. "Yes! We could talk about something else, of course! Like..."

All the enthusiasm seemed to hit an invisible wall. May's mind went blank. "Like... Like what?"

The memory of meeting in the middle of the road to Goldenrod City and thinking about each other came up to the table.

"I don't know, like yesterday," Drew spoke in a forced nonchalantly way. He mindlessly picked up the menu and hid his face behind it. "That was different..."

After hearing that comment, May instinctively retreated her hands then looked down, fidgeting fingers getting lost in each other. "Ah... Yesterday?"

"You told me about this rainy season, then mentioned that you lived here in Johto." Drew closed his eyes, thoughtfully. "That was _interesting_."

May realized her rival was bringing up one of the previous day's topics - and hey, it wasn't the umbrella fiasco. Instead of picking on her, as usual - and considering that Drew had a really great chance of doing so, after all her recent lunatic antics - he seemed to be rather interested on that particular subject.

 _Thank you, dear Johto origins - miserable moment were forgotten thanks to you._ "I don't remember much about it, though..."

May started drawing with her fingertip a never-ending Poliwag swirl on the table, as her mind started drifting away - it apparently helped her focus on reminiscing lost memories from the past. Moving to Hoenn was such a big thing in her life that... remembering anything before that? A bit tricky without the help of her parents or old pictures.

"Max was already born when we moved to Hoenn, so I was like... Hmmm, three, four, maybe five years old? Our house was big, but we lived in a small town. I remember some famous professor would visit us to talk with Dad, once in a while... He wore glasses, what was his name?... Oh, I remember he used to bring us red bean paste sweets! Azuki beans, they are sooo delicious..."

Drew lowered the menu and watched his rival with a mix of surprise and fascination.

"Your memory for food is _unbelievable_..." He tried so hard not laughing that his voice sounded even a bit uncomfortable. "You don't know the famous professor's name, but you're pretty sure about some Johto bean's name?"

"It was a looong time ago," the coordinator girl spoke in a clearly defensive tone. "I bet you also don't remember everything from your childhood..."

"Someday soon you will forget who was your pokemon starter," Drew didn't answer the provocation on purpose, countering it back with a baiting voice, "Blaziken won't forgive you if that happens... Hey, you still remember my name, don't you?"

That kind of comment reminded May how much that foolish brat deserved sometimes to be punched on his face. She slammed one hand on the table, trying to control her indignation and sound as threatening as the storming weather.

That move wasn't apparently very effective, because right after hitting it she cried a muffled 'ouch' and that only made her rival snort in haughty disdain.

"Ugh..." Still, she pretended to not feel the pain and pointed an accusative finger in front of Drew's nose. "C'mon..."

"... Don't you think I clearly remember when I first met you?!"

* * *

"Huh?"

Drew's eyes and ears were now fully opened in interest - he even knowingly ignored the childish name-calling. "...You do?"

Frisbee. Beautifly. Obnoxious brat, obnoxious hair flick, obnoxious words. Roselia. Torchic. Bluck Berries. Pokeblocks. Team Rocket. Fireworks. It was a busy and wild day - traveling with Ash meant every single day a new adventure, but that day at Slateport beach...

May groaned. _How could anyone forget that?_ She could clearly visualize their first meeting, full colors and emotions, as well all the troubles and misfortunes that happened on that day.

"When we first met in Hoenn, you were staying in a fancy private resort thing," she grumbled in irritation, "I thought you were insufferable and just a snobbish rich boy."

"Oh, you remember that." Drew turned his body, now facing his rival with arms crossed. "That's impressive."

May didn't mean to sound hurt - her pride got scratched a bit, but it wasn't anything serious. She was expecting him to remember that day as well, but...

"...You don't?"

The way she delivered her question was so painfully upfront that Drew instantly picked up her disappointment.

The involuntary teasing worked quite well. Flicking his hair away from his eyes, Drew delivered his answer without hesitation - also without noticing how that certainty made May hold her breath in tension.

"You're my number one rival. Duh, of course I do."

"Really?"

It didn't took too long for him to notice the implications of that statement, though. The awkward frown shifting into a bashful smile in front of him gave a cue to realize the misstep.

"Yeah, really... I thought you were the clumsiest rookie that I had ever seen in my life."

The coordinator girl stopped grinning then clenched her fists, rather offended by that comment. Although some extra strength in her grip was still due to the self-conciousness of the 'number one rival' part...

"Grrr... and you haven't changed at all!"

" _Insufferable_? Tell me something I don't know," he replied in a calmer and consciously insupportable tone. "You don't think I am a snobbish rich boy anymore, do you?"

"...You don't stay in five-star hotels anymore," May replied with a hint skepticism, stealing the folder from her rival's hands. "I wonder... Was that a one-time thing?"

It was now her turn to shield her face with the Pokemon Center's menu. Drew had no way to know if her question was accusative or not.

(Actually, May didn't intend to hide her emotions at all - the hungry girl really just wanted to know what she would order for lunch in a few hours ahead. Soup or sandwich... Tough choice. _Maybe both?)_

"You were not lying, were you?"

Drew noticed his rival was not facing him anymore. That quite frustrated him for a moment.

"Oh, no. I was really staying at that hotel on that day..."

"Hmm..."

After taking a considerably long time choosing her order, May lowered the menu and handed it back to her table partner.

"But isn't it much better than sleeping at the Pokemon Center?"

"Well... I just decided to refuse my parents' generous pampering." Drew accepted taking the folder in his hands but didn't really pay attention to it, too busy keeping eye contact. "We have money but I don't need to waste it? I don't need a fancy hotel to be a good coordinator..."

Her big blue eyes softened. "That's... really nice of you."

Looking around, Drew checked their surroundings once before telling May the truth. The cafeteria was not empty but apparently no one was paying attention to their conversation.

"Actually, once in a while still I run away from Pokemon Centers when they're too crowded..." He rolled his eyes out, already expecting some kind of outraged reaction from his rival. "I appreciate my fans but sometimes I can't handle being popular... It's hard to be famous."

Instead of groaning or pretending to be puking in disgust, the coordinator girl just restrained herself and made the judgemental Shroomish face.

"Ah, so you're still a rich boy. Just snobbish about other things."

Drew wanted to protest - _still a snobbish rich boy_?

He decided instead pressing his rival's forehead with the palm of his hand, in a forward but still gentle bump.

"...Feeling cheeky today, huh?"

The temperature of May's body quickly went up.

* * *

The first time May and Drew faced each other - or, even more specifically, the first time he successfully offended her, she almost killed the teenager with punches and kicks. The only thing that stopped May's chaotic raging attack was a physical barrier - Drew stopped her with a single hand.

In fact, she was so clumsy that he didn't need to use force to block all those inefficient attacks and push her away... So he made it sure to do that in the most rude and annoying possible way.

When Drew pressed her forehead, now in their intimate talk... May could swear that was a very deliberate gesture that mimicked their first confrontation at Slateport beach.

Also, she could notice while it was also a push, something was different this time. His hand was warmer now, and the playful motion, far from being mocking or aggressive... was she imagining things or he was even being affectionate?

"You remember that?..."

"I rather stay here," Drew just replied with simple words, not noticing the meaning of his rival's observations, "I don't need a extravagant hotel today."

Pokemon Centers can get super busy sometimes, but usually the atmosphere is very friendly and comfortable; trainers from all over the world and their pokemon always interact with each other, it's hard to not make new friends or find familiar faces when you stay at these places.

Checking the tables behind them, there were more people stuck inside the Pokemon Center because of the torrential rain - besides the two coordinators, there were a couple of scattered traveling groups and circle of friends waiting for lunch time.

May quietly pondered about their current situation, wondering if her rival's lifestyle was too lonely.

"We... should be buddies," she suggested with a slightly doubtful intonation - not because the idea itself was absurd, but saying it out loud was quite compromising. After all, both knew each other for a long time, yet... They had not yet, clearly and officially, stated the current status of their rivalry relationship. "Ahem, I mean, we like each other _—_ we are friends already, right? Then we could do more non-rival friend stuff."

" _Non-rival friend stuff_?" Drew grinned and considered teasing May because of that made-up expression, but decided to let her talk instead. "Please, go on."

"Like you've told me, I like talking about Contests too but I think we could talk about other things."

The teenager boy rolled his eyes out. He could swear that he had just said something similar, meaning their conversation would loop back to the beginning... Until his friend gingerly started playing with her hair and continued talking, unconsciously taking the topic to a completely different route.

"I feel lonely sometimes now that I'm traveling by myself..." Fidgeting with her bangs May looked away from Drew's attentive gaze. He was really making eye contact for a long time, _why was that attention so embarrassing?_ "I have my wonderful pokemon friends, but still... Don't you feel the same? When I see you while traveling, I want to talk to you. It makes me happy."

"Is that so?"

May nodded. She tilted her head to the side, slightly confused. Why was that a surprise to him? "I was walking alone in the rain yesterday, don't you think I was happy to find you in the middle of nowhere?"

"You know, Drew... I keep imagining what kind of life do you have. Who is your family? Who are your other friends?... What is your favorite food? Favorite pokemon type? Favorite hobbies? What kind of music do you listen in your PokeNav?... But I don't really know what do you think of me."

Drew stopped grinning in a smug way. May was just saying everything that he wanted to say and to hear - and being plainly likable, not a prick like him.

The coordinator girl tilted her head to the other side, closing her eyes in concentration.

"When I think of you, Drew, I don't know if I can just tell you what I thought or if you will find that... _too much_. I really respect you, you're also my number one rival, you know... I'm not sure up to what point is it okay to bother you with my silly ramblings, though..."

He didn't mean to repeat the same question that he did once after Kanto's Grand Festival - but his curiosity was simply too much to be easily handled at that moment.

"...Good thoughts?"

May suddenly locked her legs together, sitting on the chair with a straighter back and, after a long time, finally realizing her huge tongue slip.

"Ah... _AH_. Well, uhhh... Yeah?"

Nothing stopped May from lying or changing the subject - that's why it was a big surprise for Drew when his rival just slapped her own forehead, then truthfully answered the question with a small timid and elusive smile on her lips.

"You... know how to be nice, _sometimes_. I'd rather think about that. I really like that kind of lovable Drew... So, good thoughts."

Drew enjoyed feeding his ego by fishing praising comments from his rival. However, listening to May's sincere words - completely and willingly open from her side - was much, much better. Perhaps even overwhelming - it was hopeless being defensive when that smile was simply _disarming.._.

He allowed himself to smile back. It would be definitely nice to see that happening again. "...I see."

Decided to leave, May jumped off the bench and laughed in a meek way to hide her distress. _Lovable Drew?_ They were talking about being friends and her blabbering was starting to sound a little waaay beyond that...

"Now I should go, before lunch I want to dig my head inside a hole and drown myself in that storm _—"_

Drew unceremoniously grabbed May's arm, stopping her from running away.

"Wait. I've never lied to you... Let me honor that before you go."

"Huh?"

She didn't retreat her arm from his grip.

Another loud thunder. One of the hardworking Chansey from the cafeteria yelped in horror, hiding behind Nurse Joy in fear. A distracted trainer almost dropped his food tray on the floor; another held in their arms a tiny baby Furret, who hid its eyes behind its long ears. The morning was fairly calm, but now it was clear that it was definitely not a good day to go outside.

However, the two teenagers were so focused on their discussion that the thriller movie setting surrounding them was completely ignored. Nothing would stop May from waiting Drew finish what he had just announced.

"What do you mean?..."

Drew's hands guided May's to hold his journal. Again, she didn't leave. He paused for a moment, enjoying that instant together, before clarifying his words.

"...Just give it back to me when you're done."

May's gaze was lost in between glancing at the secret diary notes, seeing his hand touching hers and watching green eyes dodging her confused stare. "You're sure?..."

"I told you I'd share a secret if you shared yours," Drew muttered without the usual cockiness in his voice. "A promise is a promise."

He sounded confident, yet slightly tongue-tied - the boy would never admit it, the trade-off was definitely worth more than he had expected.

"You wanted to see my Appeal notes, right... just don't show it to anyone else."

May nodded, slowly. She reluctantly let that comforting warmth go to hold the journal with both hands. It was a small notebook with a thin fabric book cover - a small Roselia's sillhouette-shaped clip kept it held together.

It took a few seconds in withdrawn silence to understand that her rival was finally letting her see his personal notes.

"Ahhhh, of course I won't!" May beamed. "Thank you, Drew!"

She was completely thrilled with the situation, looking forward to locking herself inside her bedroom as quick as possible - it was the only place that she would safely shout out loud without being heard. "See you later!..."

"See you... Until next time."

Drew was not too happy to let May go - he was secretly hoping to at least have lunch together with her. Still, he got rewarded one more secret before watching her disappear in the corridors of the Pokemon Center.

Looking around very quickly, the clumsy girl seemingly believed that no one could see her anymore - then, after sighing out loud, hugged the journal close to her chest and finally did that silly low-key victory dance again.

That was quite an endearing scene - Drew was no longer disappointed.

He wanted to enjoy and think about that cute reaction for the rest of the day... not the one that was coming up soon.

Definitely not the shocking but funny heartbreak imminent moment.

* * *

After walking to a safe distance with no one else in sight, May eagerly shook the booklet up and down while giggling like a devilish Sableye.

Yay, she would finally unveil her rival's _se-e-ecrets_! Hugging the journal as if it were as precious as the prized Ribbon Cup, the coordinator girl sighed out loud and squeaked in excitement.

"Yes!" Moving her arms and hips, May celebrated her small daily triumph with a carefree joyful dance. "Wohooo, it's my lucky day!"

More thunderbolts, more lightning. The lucky day's weather hadn't changed much; still, thanks to the plum season, May managed to meet Drew and have a great time, two rainy days in a row. _It was really a blessing from the pokemon deities._

Locking herself in the bedroom, May jumped on the bed with the journal in her restless hands. The curious girl quickly went through all pages, quick fingers trying to find something interesting. Everything seemed very confusing - maybe that was only a regular notebook?... Anyway, at least she knew that her rival had written something for Goldenrod's Contest on the last page...

She stopped at the last note that Drew finished writing, probably completed just few minutes before her breakfast at the cafeteria. There were a lot of scrapped notes with unreadable scribbles on them, but the last lines of that page had a big and clear string of readable information:

xxx

 _#284 - op*#1RD_ ∨SW1.0 _/#2BB0.5#3spinx4#4HP#5spin*ed_

 _xxx_

"...What the heck is that?"

That made absolutely no sense for May.

"This... is just... a _bunch of gibberish_!"

(...)

* * *

 **A/N:** Don't worry, I think May will be able to get through this... if not, at least get a chance for some revenge tehee.

Oh, Drew's journal? It's not gibberish at all. It might not be so obvious but there's a steady logic behind those notations lol.

Sorry for the slooooow burn. Most of my long stories play like that, hahaha. I'm more generous with one-shot and shorter stories, though. I'll think if I can write someday a multi-chaptered story with ~more romantic action~ (lol what is that supposed to mean?)...

Please review if you're enjoying this! Thank you for the support, I love you guys. Cheers and see you soon!


	4. Chapter 4

**Rainbow chance**

* * *

 **Day 3**

* * *

5 o'clock. Quiet Summer morning.

Drew opened his PokeNav to check the weather forecast and his schedule for the day.

 _A row of sad Rain-form Castform icons. Bummer._

Although the sun was being very generous in those tranquil daybreak hours, the weather app had already announced the arrival of a late evening storm.

Sighing out loud, the young coordinator diligently started rescheduling his timetable, making all his priority tasks cluttered together somewhere before sunset time. At least that clear morning period would be the ideal chance to polish up his new stage act and buy some decent raincoat and boots...

 _(Not necessarily in that wrong order, as he would regret few hours later.)_

Drew borrowed a cheap plastic umbrella from the Pokemon Center then, before heading to Goldenrod's department store avenue, stopped by a small park zone near the Radio Tower. Tossing a pokeball up in the air, he released Masquerain for its workout regime.

The lively bug pokemon cried in a sweet and high tone, closing its eyes in enthusiasm; the warm and humid weather made it feel more cheerful than usual.

"Good morning." Drew smiled, caressing his teammate's head with a gentle hand. "Ready for today's plan?"

Warming up, Masquerain started dashing back and forth at different rates, followed by timed frisky air loops. That exercise was similar to the one Drew had prepared for their previous Contest together, yet some changes made the new workout significantly more challenging.

The echoing funky song coming from the Radio Tower and Masquerain's rhythmic chirping noises somehow synchronized in a fun upbeat tune. Drew didn't put on his headphones this time, pleased with that unplanned special soundtrack for their training session.

It was almost lunch time when the coordinator decided to take a break and read some news on his PokeNav. He opened the navigation screen and saw a new urgent notification from the Johto weather forecast news - _an afternoon drizzle report_?

Drew recalled his partner to its pokeball, decided to make their time-off longer in order to buy some rain gear in the shopping district. A quick drizzle wouldn't be a serious problem, but it would be better to start the preparations for the big evening storm anyway.

After a quick walk, the teenager was near Goldenrod's main department store building. Although he could already sense the smell of the rain, Drew didn't bother to follow the long covered pedestrian walkaway to reach his destination - after all, it would be faster and more convenient to just go through the big crossroad ahead his path.

Naturally, he didn't anticipate having his vision suddenly going blank in the middle of said intersection.

Who would imagine that the weather slot machine would abruptly hit the jackpot, dropping all of its glorious raindrops in a flash?

'Drizzle'? _That wasn't 'just a drizzle'!_

Drew got completely soaked in a matter of seconds. The generic portable umbrella in his hands was definitely enough to avoid his head from getting too wet in a common situation - it wasn't built to tank a whole Hydro Pump attack like that, though.

He considered himself not bad at improvisation, yet at that moment the plastic umbrella turned inside out, Drew could do nothing but close his eyes and walk forward.

It was a unique experience to experience Johto's unforgiving rainfall in such radical way, in such heavy quantity and in such... short period.

Less than one minute later, Goldenrod was once again a beautiful sunny city.

Struggling to walk with extra liters of water in his clothes, Drew saw a little kid on the other side of the street with the same Magikarp-themed raincoat and umbrella as May's.

The coincidence felt like May's indirect well-deserved laughter at his know-it-all imprudence; the girl was right, Johto's rainy month was _remarkably chaotic_. Only a skillfully trained Castform would be able to predict all local forecast eccentricities with precision - and, unfortunately, he had yet to capture one of those...

In other conditions, a fancy department store would find his drenched presentation an unacceptable standard for their establishment - however, judging how Drew was quickly offered a towel to dry himself off and how the shop staff sympathized with his condition, they actually seemed to be pretty much used to that situation.

It would be convenient if so many people hadn't seen that, though. Being popular was hardly ever a good thing while not looking nice - Drew tried to ignore the (not so few) strangers that were either whispering about him or trying to steal a snapshot of his pathetic state.

Too bad it was hard to be fully indifferent to all of that unwelcome attention.

The frustrated coordinator returned to the Pokemon Center holding big shopping bags full of new equipment, socks still full of water, a PokeNav newsfeed full of unwanted gossip notifications... and a head full of unwanted thoughts.

 _It was barely afternoon and these things would definitely make that a long day._

* * *

Ringing bell. A visitor?

Drew partially opened his dormitory's door and saw a glimpse of his rival standing right in front of him.

It was almost always a pleasure to see her, but... _now_?

"Hi."

Without replying Drew's dry and short greeting with any recognizable words, May held the small journal opened up in a random page full of strange codes, then kept flipping back each page with long dramatic pauses.

Besides few doodles and diagrams that made no sense at all without a proper context, the whole notebook had the same kind of mysterious notation going on through all pages: tons of scribbles with letters and numbers combined together, in an oddly organized and logical way.

"You don't need to show me that. I've seen it before everyone else."

May felt like shoving the book on his face after that unnecessarily sarcastic comment. However, instead of resorting to violence, she started complaining in a passionate tone, lowering her voice to avoid being a nuisance to the others resting at the Center's facilities.

"What are these... _crazy Unown glyphs_?! Why can't you write _normally_ like everyone else!"

The teenager was still bothered about the unfortunate events in the morning, yet he couldn't help but quite enjoy receiving her incandescent rantings - these certainly made the day better.

"You wanted to _see_ the notes, right."

Staring at her rival with furrowed brows, May started harboring wild sparks through her eyes. "That is SO mean!..."

Feeling a mild taste of regret while thinking about their secret trade, she sunk her face into her hand in outrage. "I've lost hours trying to decipher a bunch of crazy codes! Don't you feel bad for me?!"

"Mm-mm, not my fault you are easily deceived," Drew's categorical answer was accompanied by an index finger waving side to side. "At least I'm only mean... others might be mean, loud _and_ ill-intentioned."

(It wasn't necessary to bring Harley's name up - not many names could effortlessly fit that description.)

Goldenrod was still bright with sunlit, yet it felt like something dark like a grey cloud had blocked the sunny girl's excitement inside the corridor of that Pokemon Center. May lowered her head, staying quiet while clutching her hands tightly around the notebook.

That was certainly a sudden climatic swing.

Drew pressed a hand to his throat, also looking downwards for a moment. That unexpected foggy situation made him think that something was very wrong - where were May's usual explosive snapping and funny exasperation? Did his comment actually make her feel uneasy?

He attempted to fix the mood, although all mental effort was directed to express regret without sounding too lame (or vaguely sorry about criticizing Harley). The final delivery unsurprisingly sounded a bit too condescending to sound like an apology.

"I wouldn't mind helping if—"

Drew considered reaching his rival, wondering if that would be taken as a supportive gesture at all - would that work better than saying he was sorry for being too rude?

He ended up changing his mind after paying a little more attention to her enigmatic body expression.

What was all that shuddering? Was she struggling to not quiver her shoulders?

That wasn't sadness. "— _What are you doing_?..."

With a tiny growing smile about to leak a huge excitement grin, May made a triumphal announcement in a merry singing voice. "Check... this... oooout!"

Doodling little circles in the air with her fingertip in a rhythmic timing, the dreaming girl tried to picture in her mind again what she had imagined before in her room, after spending hours trying to crack the enigmatic codes by herself.

"Masquerain. Boosting move, then... Bubble Beam? Spin... spin, spin!"

Drew's subtle but noticeable impressed reaction was well-received by May's excited laughing - she seemed to be back to normal, tossing her arms up the air in excitement and going all sparkling and bubbly.

"Oh..." He retreated his hesitant reaching arm away, relieved that her attention had been dragged to a completely different point. "How did you find that out?"

May waved the booklet in her hands, swinging it gently back and forth. "Your numbers match the codes from the National Dex standards, don't they?"

"Maybe you're kind of right." Without giving his rival a definite answer, Drew rested his arms across his chest. "Not bad, huh."

He had imagined that it would be easy to take the hint that he was still kind of busy and not ready to go downstairs for a talk. Wearing a white bathing robe over a plain pair of shorts instead of the usual travel attire, Drew really wanted to fix his hair, still damp from a quick hot shower. "Then now, if you don't mind..."

"Oh, sure!" May immediately offered the diary back to her busy friend. "You'll need this later, right?"

That wasn't exactly what he wanted to insinuate with his last words.

"You have many intriguing notes!" The curious girl giggled sweetly then clasped her hands together. "So... Drew, are you free now?"

He snorted in a mix of awe and disbelief. "I'm not even dressed up yet."

"Ehehe, there's so much I want to talk about your strategies!" She showed a very cheeky grin on her face, tilting her body forward closer to the door. "I promise I won't be a nuisance to your _beauty maintenance session_ if you let me ask you some stuff about your notes... and charge my PokeNav, hehe."

Drew noticed his rival was carrying her portable device and a charger inside the half-opened fanny pack.

"Only fifteen percent of battery left, blame the music and silly addictive games. I could't find you earlier at the cafeteria and I was kinda—" May thought 'lonely', but opted for a toned down confession, "—bored, to put it simply."

She shrugged while giving her rival another amicable look. "Got an empty spot for my plug?"

Drew was sort of surprised with all that determination to enter his room. What was possibly so interesting about it?

He ran a hand through his hair, making droplets fall from his bangs.

May chuckled while keeping an eye to the unusual variation of her rival's famous signature move, yet stopped laughing after hearing the next question being tossed in a vaguely entertained tone.

"You _really_ wanna come in?"

Assuming the truth wasn't a problem itself, but... such intonation made May feel a little bit more self-conscious about her nosy pestering.

"W-well... I'm used to travel with guys," she quickly justified herself, rolling her eyes out in annoyance. "It's normal to visit each other when staying in individual dorms!"

Such retort did include some nitpicking on _someone_ 's avoidant habits, even though the poke itself wasn't meant to be offensive. "Friends do that all the time."

Drew knew May had forgotten that he actually had no prior group travel experience to know if she was lying or not - the comment didn't bother him anyway. "Is that so?"

"Of course it is!"

That assertiveness made the boy wonder if his rival would let him sneak into her bedroom in a similar situation. Ash, Brock, Max - perhaps she wouldn't mind them randomly asking to be invited to her bedroom. Now, Drew himself, considering the odd up-and-down rollercoaster tension between the two of them?

That would be... maybe a little...

 _Odd_.

Drew dismissed the random impression with an amused smirk. He turned around then pushed the door, leaving it fully opened for his quirky rival.

May waltzed in without ceremony, closing the door behind her back.

* * *

The first thing that May noticed was not how tidy that small room was compared to Ash's, neither how Drew's pokeball belt and ribbon case were neatly resting by a small rose vase on the bedroom vanity, nor how he was, as expected, a very organized person like Brock.

The view - he probably had a much better view from his room than she had in hers!

May walked in closer to the window in timid steps then peeked through the almost fully closed curtains to see a wider view of Goldenrod's cityscape.

Drew sat on the bed, resting his arms on his legs. He watched his rival trying hard to not glue herself to the window, spying the agitation out there in the streets. "You're staying in the other side of the building?"

May nodded, being careful to not hit her forehead on the glass. "Yeah, but there's a big tree in front of my room that blocks the view..."

Drew wished he could watch this scene for hours - however, his rival would fully merge with the glass in anticipation if he didn't manifest himself soon enough. "Open it if you want to."

The room became a little noisier with fully opened windows and curtains. Still, the weather was very nice and that felt much better than relying only on the old ceiling fan.

May closed her eyes and sighed out loud in satisfaction. "It's so beautiful outside, why were you locked in here?"

"...Privacy?"

After hearing such typical sarcastic answer, she furred her brows in an unimpressed scowl. "Here comes you again with that story."

"What?" Drew laughed in disdain. "I went out earlier today. The world was devastated by the rain, though."

Did he get caught by the crazy weather? May laughed too, but in a merrier and nicer tone. She sat down on the opposite corner of the bed, then gingerly rested her back on it, watching her rival upside down with her hands under her neck. "You could have called me, I would let you have my umbrella..."

Drew looked back at the guest in his room with a mild interest in his eyes. She seemed to be quite comfortable and chill staying there in his bed, without worrying too much about formalities.

That was fine. Actually, that was more than fine, the situation was quite fascinating - but perhaps it made him feel just a tad bit too... self-aware?

May kept observing the cautious teenager attentively. He had just covered his head with a towel, making it a bit harder to read his face.

"C'mon, Drew~ Make it easier to hang out with you."

Something about the way she spoke that made his heart rate wave in a funny way. Maybe it would be safer to dictate himself the humor of the discussion, leading it back to a superfluous talk - teasing words would fit the plan like a glove.

"I heard the so-called _Ace Coordinator Drew Fan Club_ organizes a lottery draft for meet-and-greet events..."

"Are you crazy? I'm NOT your fangirl!"

That was too easy. He almost felt like it was unfair to bait her like that. "For real?"

"Of course I'm not!"

"Of course you're not," Drew repeated the answer as if confirming a self-evident truth. He laughed in a genuinely softer way, pleased with the silly banter. "You'd be instantly banned if they found you here, hahaha..."

That mellowness in his voice made May easily get flustered, losing the track of the discussion. "T-That's not funny!..."

"That's too much commotion over a pair of closed curtains. There's nothing else to complain about, I opened the door and now you're here, right?"

May made a funny face with pursued lips.

"Well, but I had to insist! I pretty much _invaded_ your place, or else I would be dying of boredom somewhere else." She clenched her fists in protest. "You should have invited me to come in earlier!..."

Drew would never stop being quite fascinated by these casual bursts of sincerity. "But I was taking a shower few minutes ago, spare me from your social obsession..."

He shrugged in a nonchalant way, then faked a shocked face. "...Oh, are you telling me that you actually wanted to come in _there_?"

May blinked hard. " _Haah_?"

It took a couple of seconds to let imagination do the worst. Shaking her head in horror, she was now clearly bothered with that outrageous idea. "D-Don't be silly!"

Drew laid his head on the bed pillow, watching the ceiling fan spin slowly. "Me? But _you_ were the one planning to assault me in the shower..."

"What are you saying?!"

May's indignation could easily overcome any kind of sentiment when antagonizing her rival; perhaps the comment would actually make her feel very embarrassed - if her brain didn't get too busy becoming irritated with Drew's provocation. "Ugh, don't be silly!"

"A low blow..." Smirking in an obnoxious way, the boy just kept adding more fuel to the flames. "Trying to be a Top Coordinator by slaughtering your opponents, huh? So cruel, attacking when they're defenseless..."

May replied that taunt with a hassled dirty look, moving on the bed with a slightly arched back stance. She knew how that was her chance to use the secret weapon that made Ash hear her out and Max scream for surrender.

"You could be murdered for real if you keep asking for it..."

Her arms were ready to carry on with the vengeance plot, but Drew managed to sense the incoming danger in time - he quickly retreat his legs away, mocking grin plastered on his face. "Uh-oh, _so ferocious_!..."

"Grrrr, _you_!"

"Wait!"

Words weren't enough to halt the merciless strikes. Drew kept dodging May's clumsy limbs - he didn't want to get too close, yet his incessant teasing had apparently given her some unstoppable courage. "Geez, what's wrong with you!"

"I should be the one asking you that!"

The invincible girl was definitely not being moderate with her strength. She was about to trap him in the corner of the room if they kept going like that.

May didn't want to let Drew escape, yet sensing he wasn't really fighting back, she gently loosened the grip on his wrists. He definitely noticed the difference but didn't run away, pretending to ignore the golden chance to flee from the attack.

It was such a pleasing surprise to see him letting her go on with the playful game that she began giggling wholeheartedly with her whole body.

Drew had a hazy clue why - he would never admit it to anyone, but although that felt odd, it was also _kind of fun._

Holding her laughter, May threatened her rival with a Team Rocket-esque voice, "I hope you're not ticklish... You won't be able to prove anything if you're _dead_ , mwahahaha!"

He didn't want to look weak, yet being trapped on the wall like that wasn't his most flattering position. "Hold on..."

May glared at him with a bold look. "Are you sure I'm _everyone's anywhere anytime_ raider?"

"Yeah, _you are_ _?_ " Drew assumed that kind of playful game was a common occurrence with Max - perhaps with Ash and the other girls as well? His skepticism let him take a stand against the not-so-intimidating remark. "Unless I'm an exception?"

"Huh?" _Of course not._ That was an obvious answer. "No, I don't want to see you like, always—"

May corrected herself before stating something so rude and insincere - of course she wasn't a stalker, but neither she was so careless to say that she didn't look forward seeing her rival. "I mean, it's not that I don't want to see you— of course I like meeting you and, it's..."

If he would just stop staring back with so much attention... _Was she hesitating to state a clearer answer?_

It was hard to let silence reign in the bedroom when May was hanging out with her traveling comrades - they were all very supportive friends and they would help each other all the time to keep the group balance in harmony.

However, looking at Drew, she noticed he wouldn't say a word until completing her answer.

"What I'm saying is, I don't want to _always_... see you...!"

The words started to die steadily through the unfinished sentence - something that apparently wasn't a planned - neither desired - reaction from May herself, perplexed by her own discomposure.

"Guhhh, _you understand what I want to say_!..."

Pouting like an upset Jigglypuff, May released her hostage by jumping away, trying to save herself from showing any signs of the intense agitation going through her head.

"This is so unfair!"

The teenager girl really wanted to squeal in frustration - would that be too ridiculous? She somehow managed to control her urges and ended up just clenching her fists and teeth instead, making an angry protesting frown too enchanting to be taken as a real threat.

Drew appreciated that adorable fortress-destroying look with a contemplative semblance, smiling with half-closed eyes.

The turmoil made him realize that he was not longer stressed about his rainy morning.

"Bought few sweets today, why don't you have some while I finish getting dressed?"

Sweets?

 _Food?_

* * *

May didn't mean to have her internal system tilt with the surprise topic switch. She kept her fists clenched but slowly let her head cool down after hearing the magical word. Her shoulders seemed to be more relaxed now.

"I've found something you might like, it's over there inside the plastic bag." Drew pointed at the furniture with the flower vase. "Ah... two things, actually. The extra socket for your PokeNav is right behind it."

May left the bed then stopped in front of the small bedroom vanity in a thoughtful silence. The coordinator girl pulled the PokeNav out of her purse and plugged the charger to an empty outlet.

Drew could see on the mirror reflection her eyes clearly trailing away from the sweet box, moving to her recharging device and finally stopping by the vivid roses in the vase.

"Something I might like?"

The boy wondered if she had figured out what those flowers were meant to be - his rival wasn't really supposed to see them so soon, but—

"The shop clerk told me this is a local specialty of Mahogany Town." Trying to avert the attention to anything but that stupidly glaring detail, he just kept talking in a casual way, "I'm not sure if these are the same as you've mentioned a while ago. Are they?"

May slowly lifted up and examined the dark green-colored box with red ideograms and a Gyarados illustration on it - perhaps a reference to _Lake of Rage_?

"Hm... _Rage Candy Bar_?" She repeated the name written in recognizable small letters out loud, trying to squeeze some information from her foggy early childhood memories. "Hmmm..."

Opening the package with care to not damage its beautiful decorated paper, May pulled one of the two small individually wrapped sweets out of it. The round steamed cake confectionary had a red symbol stamped on it, mimicking a stylized angry vein.

 _That_ one looked familiar. "I know this!"

She had high expectations while biting a small piece of the local delicacy. The fluffiness of the dough, the delicate sweetness of the red bean paste...

Confirming it tasted exactly as she remembered made it even more thrilling.

"Hmmmm, this is _so_ good!..."

"Rage Candy _... Bar_?" Drew took a quick glance over his rival's shoulder then just showed some contempt with a mocking smirk. He sighed, watching the round-shaped sweet gradually disappear in his rival's hands. "That's not even shaped like one..."

May also sighed, but very loudly and in a pure delight state. "I don't know, maybe there's a different name in the local dialect..."

"Hmm..." Taking another nibble, she checked the box again, flipping it upside down. "Hm... Hnnn! Oh— _Ikari Manjū_! That's it, Drew! I remember this name!"

Hanging the bathrobe on a chair, he grabbed a neatly folded T-shirt from his bag. "I see... Is that what's written in local characters?"

Filling her mouth with more comforting flavors and nostalgia that reminded her of her family, May pointed at a label containing some nutritional information in tiny letters.

"No, it's written here with... Uh, how do we call it, our usual way of writing stuff? Is there a name for _t—this_...?"

A subtle stuttering. A shirtless Drew wasn't a reason to get startled, but!... At least May was relieved that he didn't notice the turbulence blotch, her tongue was quick enough to smudge the minor slip away. "Uhhhh, I think Dad cannot read but he can speak the dialect a little. Max learned few characters so I guess he could read that! How about you, Drew?"

"The PokeNav can translate these things..." He put on his clean shirt while completing his sentence, "I noticed it is so-so with stylized handwriting, but it's quite decent with most printed text."

"Ohhh, could you teach me how to do that?"

Drew pulled the fluffy bench under the vanity, sitting at the corner so both could share the seat. Drawing his own PokeNav out of his pocket and scrolling through the main screen options, the knowledgeable coordinator slowly demonstrated to his friend how to use the text scan reader and the translation tool.

May paid attention to each specific command performed on the screen. Those steps were not so easy but seemed vaguely familiar - perhaps Max had already explained it to her a long time ago, or was that Brock trying to impress a Nurse Joy with his 'language skills'?

 _Skills..._ The girl unexpectedly remembered the original excuse that lead her to be sitting there - _oh, that's right, Appeal notes!_ She was supposed to ask him about the Appeal strategy notes. Well, May wasn't particularly in a hurry to talk about Contest strategies...

Her focus started faintly slipping away, especially after she contemplated how much she was enjoying spending her time inside that bedroom. That cozy atmosphere was just _too nice_ , leaning on his shoulder made her feel safe and comfortable... Without a doubt, she wouldn't let work talk spoil that little moment.

Too bad good moments are known to last, as the word itself says, just for a moment.

A random newsfeed notification popped up on the top of the screen.

* * *

 _'Coordinator Monthly's Celebrity Showcase: Stars who've been caught in *bad* weather just like Us!'_

* * *

At first, both teenagers apparently ignored the futile message - _Coordinator Monthly_ magazine was a must for those in the Contest circuit, yet often a pain for their spam of harmless but unnecessary paparazzi-style contents. They kept playing with the PokeNav's text conversion app, as if nothing had happened at all.

"Drew... You were out in the morning, right?"

"You're not going to convince me to open that link."

Ouch, that was a very strong statement. May didn't want to abuse from her luck, but she couldn't contain the childish indignation tone coming out from her coaxing voice.

"Ehhh, why?"

Drew almost shrugged dramatically to try faking he didn't care - _almost_ , because May's weight on his shoulder made him really reconsider the idea. He didn't want to move her away from that place.

"Why?" There was not enough time to think why he didn't want her to stop being unconsciously so affectionate, so Drew just gave the first excuse that came up to his mind instead. "Don't tell me you like trashy tabloid stuff..."

"Are you worried that you might be featured on that gallery?"

"You can easily check that out later in your room when you finish charging your Nav."

"Is that a 'yes'?"

In a blink of an eye, at the same time that Drew unconsciously attempted to close that notification window, May moved her arm to stop him from doing so. He pretended to not be bothered, though by shutting down the PokeNav screen with his index finger obviously contested that.

She tried to not laugh, but the big mood shift was just too funny for her. "Hahaha, why are you hiding that? _Even Vigoroth fall from trees_ , Drew!"

He managed to not shout, yet his voice delivered the question in a very bewildered tone. "What are you even talking about?!"

"Everybody makes mistakes. _Even Vigoroth fall from trees_ ," Norman's daughter explained the local expression in a good-natured way, "Dad likes that phrase a lot... anyway, I've seen you trapped under the rain before, why are you worried about it?"

Drew groaned, already imagining everyone's reactions after seeing his pitiful unpresentable state after the storm. Someone for sure would torment him with that picture; Solidad and Harley would definitely not miss the opportunity to bug him about that. "I've told you already. _Privacy_."

"Okay, I won't bother you about that..." May decided to cheer her friend up by offering some positivity light to the problem - it wasn't exactly a big consolation, but at least it was a sincere opinion. "I like when you style your hair... but you look cool with wet hair too! It's probably not a bad picture, don't worry."

How nice it was to be unknowingly praised like that. "...Princess of Hoenn's blinding optimism, isn't it?"

" _Coordinator Monthly_ has never picked any bad photos of you! You _always_ look sharp in their selected shots. So if you're in that article, I bet you're soaked but looking good!"

Drew gave May a strange look - she quickly tried to speak more to make it a less compromising statement, "I mean, like that other day when they featured Solidad's victory in Cherrygrove City! You accidentally appeared on the background and I have no clue what you're doing there... but hey, you looked pretty stylish."

Although that was a fairly recent episode, he definitely didn't remember it at all. "...I _was_ in that picture?"

"Okay, how about that big photo from your Violet City interview," May refused to be defeated, framing her friend with her imaginary finger-camera while speaking in an exaggerated dramatic tone, "you forgot to remove a bunch of pink petals from Roserade's Petal Dance that got stuck to your hair, oh no!... Is everything ruined now? No, wait a moment! It's... it's really _romantic. So poetic, the Prince of Larousse looks so majestic!_ A perfect shot, ten out of ten."

The coordinator smirked and shook his head as a dismissive gesture. "Are you making up these stories?"

"What, you don't believe me?" The persistent girl glared at his rival with annoyance. "I'll show you, I have that exact picture bookmarked somewhere in my Nav!"

That extra info dump only made things weirder. Certain words were perfect to feed the vain boy's insatiable ego - however, this time the frantic disclosure hit him straight into his chest in a different way.

Drew had already one brow crooked in curiosity, yet the last assertion only made his confused expression deepen significantly. "You _saved_ that picture?"

May bit her lower lip after noticing how out of control her words had gone. What should she do after rambling nonstop and talking too much - pretend that everything was under control? "Ah... Should delete it?"

"Uh— it's alright... You can keep that? Thanks for asking, though..."

Drew's honest feedback unfortunately didn't sound condescending neither sarcastic - she was really glad for hearing that, yet at the same time, it would be much easier to shrug the embarrassment off if he wasn't being serious! May unconsciously sunk her face deep down into her hands.

Without knowing either how to fix that, the popular coordinator pretended to be busy by opening a small bottle, spreading its contents on the palms of his hands then finally passing it through his hair.

A wind gust entered the room, making the curtains float towards the two teenagers. The weather seemed to be collaborating to ease the disharmony in the air - it cut some of the tension inside the room.

May recognized the Misdreavus stylized modern logo on the heat protector and on the serum spray next to it, then realized that could be a great opportunity to change the tricky topic. Forcing her way through the awkwardness, she pretended - with effort but not so convincingly - to sound casual and surprised.

" _H-hey, wow_! Dawn likes that brand too!"

Drew spied his friend fretting over their conversation through the mirror reflection. Wince. Tight-lipped smile. Fidgeting hands.

She didn't want to give up on talking with him, even after so much exposure.

They were rivals and comrades that kept competing and teasing each other through different regions - now in Johto there was no one else to help mediating their interactions off the stage, no wonder it was so confusing to find a rhythm without becoming so troubled with all sort of different emotions popping up on the way.

The two of them were definitely not used to that... They knew each other as rivals, they were starting to understand each other as friends but... how about everything else? Their invisible tension was real, some lines were very blurred when trying out their new off-stage relationship - maybe a bit mixed up, perhaps even clumped together? Uncertain feelings would certainly cause these embarrassing slips; he slowly realized the real effort necessary to make that friendship work for real.

Underestimating her awareness was a big mistake; May was doing her best to keep the flow pleasing and not too unnatural... She was certainly strong-willed and infinitely more extroverted than him, yet it didn't mean that developing an engaging connection between them was a simple and uncomplicated task.

"You can eat the other 'candy bar' while I finish this." Turning on the air blower, Drew nodded to the remaining sweet inside the box. "I bought more, have that one."

She timidly looked at the box then saw the flowers dance with the blowing wind. Red roses...

"Thank you... but I'm fine for now."

He considered joking about that unusual reply - _May, refusing food - what was that?_ \- but decided to not do so. The troubled quiet seemed to be quieter now, reserving her inner discussion energy to some private thoughts going on on her mind.

"Dawn... Coordinator Johanna's daughter, right? She's also a pretty interesting coordinator."

"Yeah." Crossing her arms over the table, May rested her head on them then closed her eyes. "And her fashion sense is _amazing_. Wish she were here around Johto too."

Dawn, Drew... The brunette wondered if people with unusual and pretty hair colors had some special ability for dealing with their own hair.

Watching her friends styling their hair with dexterity and concentration was a fascinating scene. Dawn was diligent and multitasked as if she had extra limbs like an Ambipom, while Drew was fast and made it look easy to make his usual hairstyle hold still in place.

The scent of the spray was very pleasant, not too strong, with a floral hint. May wondered if her rival was a practical guy or if he also enjoyed the kind of self-care and relaxation rituals the Sinnoh girls had taught her. Would he enjoy it or would he feel put off by the girlish pampering? She had tried convincing Ash many times of letting her touch his hair, but the boy would always run away from these things, saying it was too weird...

But Ash's personality was completely different from Drew's - _maybe with Drew there would be a chance for negotiation?_

May slowly opened her mouth but didn't say anything at all. Something else came up to her mind.

Her rival was fashionable but also an introverted guy - would he find her question too invasive? Half of her wanted to ask it out loud, the other wanted to keep the question sealed far away from that room.

"...Uh, do you want to say something?"

She apparently had stayed too long with that blank stare without shutting her mouth up. _That mirror was really screwing her up..._

May decided to risk it all - in her mind she had said it with confidence, although it went like a shaky whisper.

"Can I... _help_?"

 _Help?_ Drew turned off the noisy blow dryer, unsure if he had listened it right. "Hm?"

"Ahh... Ahahaha, it's nothing serious!" May's voice raised in a squeaky and funny way, not too pleased with the silence coming back to the room. "Dawn and Zoey always play with my hair when we meet and, you see..."

"I sort of always wanted to try out what they've taught me, it's just that..." The teenager girl looked away in discomfort. "It's not the same doing it by myself, so... Uhh, it's like..."

Drew remained in standby, thinking about May and what she had been through in recent times.

"But if that's too weird, forget it!" Worried about the length of the monologue, she tried to fix her words and not get too panicked about that. "I promised I wouldn't bother you and here I am being a nuisance!... Gosh, that's nonsense."

Maybe he should be more gentler and less defensive about the strangeness of their relationship - it wasn't all about him, May missed having travel companions and she really trusted him, being more openly encouraging could help her a lot. Drew added a mental note to remember speaking out those thoughts a bit more instead of just keeping them to himself.

"Well, I'm not going to lie," it wasn't easy but he really tried to trim any hints of defensive sarcasm off his words, "that's an unusual offer but, sure, why not?"

May's eyes brightened up, slowly dissipating the gloominess clouds above her head. "Really?"

She was _so cute_. So cute and so radiant, Drew wondered how it would be nice to make her feel safe and comfortable like her other friends always did.

"You've said it yourself, Dawn likes the stuff I use. Good taste... Share her secrets, I'm all ears."

"She really does!" May nodded enthusiastically. "I swear she's a wonderful teacher too, I remember everything that she's taught me!"

Taking a long breath before trying to say his words, the coordinator from LaRousse really wanted to sound more supportive, although he packed some extra care to not imbue it with too much sincerity. "You're weird but please, don't say you're a nuisance."

His words had a bit of prideful restrain, but he made an extra effort to at least be as honest as possible, "I enjoy your company, for real—"

"—Anyway." Drew turned on the hair dryer, rushing to not let the conversation go to a strange route again. "As long as it is not another dirty attempt to murder me when nobody is looking..."

May noticed she was being observed through the mirror. Looking at her rival's reflection with a meek smile, she spoke in a modest tone, "Drew... I just want to play with your pretty hair, not to use cheap methods to get ribbons."

"Glad to hear that." He continued grooming the tip of the bangs in front of his eyes. "I don't need to worry, then."

"If you trust me, you don't..." The girl kept watching the reflection of her rival in expectation. "Do you?"

He had no clue why he smiled to her instead of chaining his comment with a random banter. It was a worthy decision, as May simply beamed with pleasure, hiding her burning cheeks in happiness.

It usually took a couple of minutes for Drew finish styling his hair - for him, this particular time, it felt like he had spent a whole hour dealing with rebelling bangs. Focusing on not making any mistakes and thinking quickly how to make some gestures look cool without looking too suspicious was also not so easy...

That didn't mean the chore felt like a boring task; having a special guest made that whole ritual itself a fun challenge.

Checking his appearance in the mirror one last time, he waved the tip his hair with a perfect obnoxious flick.

"Alright, I'm done here. Still have some time before I gotta leave, so..."

Turning his body to face his rival, Drew crossed his arms with a genuinely curious look on his face. "...What do you want to do now?"

If she had heard the same question an hour before, there would be so many options that May didn't know which one would she pick.

If only she had been asked that earlier, though.

May fidgeted with her PokeNav's charger cord, struggling to express her feelings without saying any words. Maybe her best answer would be 'nothing' - she just wanted to stay like that, enjoying simply being there... How could she possibly explain _that_ to him?

Shuffling her body, the reticent girl scratched the back of her neck, still unable to look back at her friend's eyes. "Maybe I should go."

"What?"

Drew didn't want to show disappointment in his voice, but even he was a bit confused to hear that after May's persistence to enter his room and spend the time with him. His eyes kept blinking even though he was trying to keep his gaze fixed at his rival. "Is anything wrong?..."

"No... No! I swear everything is good— hahaha, everything is really nice?" May shook her head, giggling quietly. "It's just... Uhhh, how can I say..."

She mirrored Drew's pose, crossing her arms around her chest. Taking a long breath before speaking out the truth, the happy teenager looked away with a veiled smile. "Everything is just... _too nice_?"

"Didn't know 'nice' was a bad thing." Drew mindlessly started playing with one fallen rose petal from the vase. "Have any tips on how to make things less nicer?"

"Oh, please..." May shook her head, smile spreading and getting out of control. She unplugged her PokeNav and started walking away to the door. "Don't! Keep the niceness."

"You're a mystery," Drew replied the request with a calmer voice now. His friend wasn't mad at him - probably just confused or... _overwhelmed_? "You're definitely more difficult than you think you are."

"I'm not enigmatic, _you_ are too difficult." She pouted like a grumpy Swadloon - although her face was now pink, not yellow - and she was definitely not upset about that situation. "I'm just a girl, you're being mean again..."

Although May was one of the densest person Drew had ever met... that didn't mean she wasn't affected or completely unaware that although they were really attempting to be closer friends, they had this even more complicated flirting game going on literally _for years_.

"Okay, so how about this..." He followed his rival to open the door for her. "Are you busy the day after tomorrow?"

The attentive girl stopped walking away for a moment.

It was her turn now to wait for an answer. "Hm?..."

"So... I've never been to the National Park before." Drew offered an interesting card to the table - still, that didn't get any clear replies. He grinned, tossing more hints while pretending to not notice May was forcing him to talk before her on purpose. "I'm planning to take a rest day before Goldenrod's Contest, so..."

He knew she was now looking at the flower vase even before confirming it.

"I know you like flowers, too." Drew leaned comfortably against the wall. "I know that you also love competition, the Park hosts some kind of bug-catching tournament... Would you fancy that instead?"

"Hmm... a date or a contest?" May turned her head away to avoid being caught for staring too much at the red roses, tapping the tip of her lips in a musing mood. "You're trying to invite me or my pokemon?"

"I'll let you choose if you want it more or less nicer."

There were many things that made her happy that day - that particular one had made her day worth all the tension and awkwardness.

May opened the door then jumped away to the corridor in ballerina steps, dancing and singing a light-hearted tune. Before disappearing in the end of the hallway, she gingerly looked back to see if Drew was still watching her from his door.

He was still there.

"Hey, Drew!"

She blew a cute kiss in the air then ran away, merry voice echoing through the passage.

"See you later! Good luck with your practice!"

Drew wondered how easy it was to flip May's mood switch - and get caught by it, like the crazy weather in Johto playing with his schedule and circumstances. Didn't she call that season a 'blessing' or something like that? It wasn't necessarily a good or a bad thing - but interesting? So unpredictable.

His attention came back to reality as a low-pitched rumble announced the arrival of the awaited guest.

He wasn't worried about it - Drew had learned his lesson earlier that day - with all the rain gear he had now, the storm wouldn't be a hassle to his plans. However... Checking the map and the timetable for the National Park, finding a _good_ excuse for the roses, planning the details for the date with May— wait, what if she really wanted to sign up for the bug catching contest? Maybe he should also prepare himself for that competition as well...

 _It was only afternoon and these things would definitely make that a long day._

* * *

 **A/N:**

Happy ultra late CS day! Sorry, I tried working really hard to meet the deadline, but still... I really hope you like this new chapter! I had a lot of trouble to write it (it's kinda difficult to write ship dynamics when you're _not feeling anything for months_ lol I've lost completely my sense of tone and pacing lately) but I'm fine with this current version now, I just might need to fix few things later.

If you're curious about the Appeal notes, Drew's code means he is planning to use Masquerain (pokemon #284), the hashtags mark which actions he will order and the number are timing notes. Rain Dance if needed, or else Silver Wind- Bubblebeam, spin, Hydro Pump.

Tsuyu season is definitely more romantic in fiction than real life (oh boy delayed trains oh boy rainy weekends). And I also have no clue why rage candy bars are called candy bars... Those are steamed buns, not bars D:

(Btw, I heard people moved to Ao3... I have an old forgotten account there, should I create a copy of my stuff on that website?)


End file.
